If you change the format because a division looks bad for some time...what happens when the ebb and flow of sports takes effect and the divisions even out? It's "unfair" that we have to play in a stacked division...but what happens if in 5 years it's just us and the Islanders and the rest of those teams blow? Will we not get the #3 seed? I'm not saying it for any other reason then: if you tinker on short-term trends, you create long-term issues sometimes...

mikey287 wrote:If you change the format because a division looks bad for some time...what happens when the ebb and flow of sports takes effect and the divisions even out? It's "unfair" that we have to play in a stacked division...but what happens if in 5 years it's just us and the Islanders and the rest of those teams blow? Will we not get the #3 seed? I'm not saying it for any other reason then: if you tinker on short-term trends, you create long-term issues sometimes...

Valid point, but do we really think the SE is ever going to rival the Atlantic?

mikey287 wrote:If you change the format because a division looks bad for some time...what happens when the ebb and flow of sports takes effect and the divisions even out? It's "unfair" that we have to play in a stacked division...but what happens if in 5 years it's just us and the Islanders and the rest of those teams blow? Will we not get the #3 seed? I'm not saying it for any other reason then: if you tinker on short-term trends, you create long-term issues sometimes...

Valid point, but do we really think the SE is ever going to rival the Atlantic?

mikey287 wrote:If you change the format because a division looks bad for some time...what happens when the ebb and flow of sports takes effect and the divisions even out? It's "unfair" that we have to play in a stacked division...but what happens if in 5 years it's just us and the Islanders and the rest of those teams blow? Will we not get the #3 seed? I'm not saying it for any other reason then: if you tinker on short-term trends, you create long-term issues sometimes...

Valid point, but do we really think the SE is ever going to rival the Atlantic?

Yes.

I guesse we can agree to disagree on that one. I think it is more likely the SE loses 1 if not 2 of those teams before they every rival the Atlantic. No one cares about hockey in Florida or Carolina......not to mention Tampa Bay is not that great a town either.

What makes Tampa a viable hockey market is that it has a relatively high number of Canadian retirees and seasonal (winter) residents. While they attend games, they aren't necessarily Lightning fans first and foremost.

The indigenous market alone, roughly the same size as Pittsburgh, probably wouldn't support a franchise.

There are other factors as important as attendance, such as cultural penetration of the game and team, city/state buy-in, avg GDP of the population, league strategy, etc.. For example, Miami is an important market for the league in terms of exposure and mind share.

mikey287 wrote:If you change the format because a division looks bad for some time...what happens when the ebb and flow of sports takes effect and the divisions even out? It's "unfair" that we have to play in a stacked division...but what happens if in 5 years it's just us and the Islanders and the rest of those teams blow? Will we not get the #3 seed? I'm not saying it for any other reason then: if you tinker on short-term trends, you create long-term issues sometimes...

The Flyers will never blow. They have been good from the start of the franchise and have had only one real down period in their history (89-90 to 93-94). Sure they have had a few down years in between (like the one year where we won every game againiat them) but have had only one period of time where they were terrible like how we were from 01-02 to 05-06. Plus even when they weren't cup contenders, they were still good enough to make the playoffs.

Granted that's just one team, but i'm just saying I can't ever see a time where the Flyers are God awful for a period of time.

mikey287 wrote:If you change the format because a division looks bad for some time...what happens when the ebb and flow of sports takes effect and the divisions even out? It's "unfair" that we have to play in a stacked division...but what happens if in 5 years it's just us and the Islanders and the rest of those teams blow? Will we not get the #3 seed? I'm not saying it for any other reason then: if you tinker on short-term trends, you create long-term issues sometimes...

It would just demonstrate that the top team/division seeding first idea is not good.

i'd be in favor of a permanent adjustment to split up the trash from the SE, but only if there was the right kind of evidence to say it needed to be done. basically, i would need attendance numbers to be low enough, for a long enough period of time that these teams were regularly forced to spend towards the cap floor. but that isn't really happening. they're trying to field competitive teams, and generally are spending enough money to do so - it's just coincidence that they suck at it, not some indication that the SE is permanently screwed.